This invention relates generally to the field of written tests and more particularly to a re-usable test booklet having an improved construction.
Written examinations are widely administered in schools and other educational institutions, as well as in various businesses and governmental bodies. So called objective tests include questions which are answered by selecting one of several possible "multiple choice" answers or by deciding whether a statement is true or false. Typically, such objective tests include a question booklet and a separate answer sheet on which the answers to the multiple choice or true-false questions are marked by blanking out an answer area corresponding to the answer that is selected. The completed answer sheet is usually processed by machine in order to facilitate and expedite scoring of the test results.
Although this type of test has long been used and is generally satisfactory, it has not been wholly free of problems. One problem with the conventional test format is that the areas on the answer sheet must be properly matched with the corresponding questions, usually by matching the number of the question with the number associated with the possible answers on the answer sheet. If the person taking the test inadvertently mismatches the question and answer numbers, the answer will be recorded in the improper place even though the examinee in fact knows the correct answer. Thus, incorrect answers often result from mechanical errors in recording the answers rather than from lack of knowledge of the correct answer, and the test results can reflect wrong answers caused by the mechanics of the answer recording procedure.
When a large number of questions are included in a particular examination, it is especially likely that one or more answers will be entered incorrectly for mechanical reasons rather than by reason of lack of knowledge. It is not uncommon for an examinee to temporarily skip a particularly difficult question, intending to return to it if time permits. The answer area corresponding to the skipped question may be inadvertently marked with the answer to the immediately following question, and the examinee may continue to mark the answers to successive questions in the wrong answer spaces all because of the skipping of one question. Even if the error is discovered, correction requires that a large number of answers be changed and this may not be possible due to time constraints. Even if the answers are corrected, considerable time is required that could otherwise be put to more productive substantive use. The test results in such cases do not accurately reflect the examinee's knowledge of the subject matter and thus do not validly test what is intended to be tested.
Although this shortcoming applies to all levels of testing, its impact is so great in elementary schools that tests with separate scorable single answer sheets are not used from kindergarten through third grade.
Instead, schools pay extremely high prices for machine-readable test booklets which require the examinee to fill in bubbles on the test pages themselves. This increases the costs of testing programs because the booklets cannot be used more than once.
Moreover, each page (often containing only 4 to 8 questions and answers) has to be cut away from the booklet and run through a scanner separately. This means that scoring a 40 page test requires the steps of (1) cutting up the booklet into separate pages, and (2) scanning 40 sheets instead of one (or 20 sheets where scanners are used which can read both sides of an answer page in one pass). In addition to the extra expense, time, and effort consumed in handling these booklets, there is also the possibility that the pages will be mishandled and then processed through the scanner in the improper sequence. This, of course, throws off the scoring of the test, and if not detected, will have serious negative grading results for the examinee. Even in those cases where such errors are discovered, the re-running and correction efforts are time-consuming.
Due to these shortcomings in the conventional test format and the single-use scannable test booklets, it is evident that a need exists for an examination scheme that more reliably matches the questions with the possible answers on a separate answer sheet. The present invention is aimed primarily at providing a test format that is improved in this respect compared to conventional formats.
More specifically, the present invention provides a test booklet which includes a plurality of bound together question sheets and an answer sheet that may be placed in the booklet beneath the question sheets. The question sheets are progressively narrower from top to bottom so that each question sheet has an unbound edge portion that overlaps the underlying question sheet. The answer areas on the answer sheet are arranged in a plurality of columns equal in number to the number of question sheets in the booklet. The answer sheet columns are located adjacent to the unbound edges of the question sheets to which they correspond.
In one form of the invention, each column of answer areas extends generally along and adjacent to the edge of the question sheet to which it corresponds. Each group of possible answers is thus located adjacent to the corresponding question on the question sheet, and the physical location of the answer areas next to each question provides a clear indication as to which answer areas apply to which questions. At the same time, the overlapping edges of the question sheets cover the answers applicable to underlying question sheets, so the questions and the applicable answer areas are matched by their physical locations, and there is very little chance of error resulting from mechanical problems involving marking of the answers in the wrong place.
A second form of the invention is similar to the first form, except that the answer areas register with a column of openings formed in the question sheets along their free edges. This arrangement makes it even less likely that the wrong column of possible answers will be inadvertently marked with answers because the examinee can be assured that the correct column is being used simply by being careful to mark through one of the openings adjacent to the question that is being answered.